Mobile technology is powering an “on-demand” economy whereby urbanites can buy almost anything instantly, online, at the swipe of a screen and have it delivered to wherever they are located.
Having a takeaway meal brought to your door is hardly breaking news but Supper, for example, has taken this to a new level by launching an app that lets you order food from Michelin-starred restaurants (perfect for when you need to host a dinner party to impress your friends).
Taxi-booking app Uber, of course, is the company that seems to have kickstarted this trend – today, it has branched out into everything from picking up unwanted coats from people’s houses during winter to donate to homeless people, to launching its own dedicated UberRush courier platform, cementing itself as a comprehensive logistics network for city living. (Read more here.)
In the not-so-distant future, shopping giant Amazon will roll-out its Prime Air delivery system whereby items purchased on its retail site will be transported in less than 30 minutes by aerial drone, right to your door.
Here are five other cashless on-demand apps that will make your life better…
1. Laundrapp
Particularly useful when you get home from a trip with a whole load of dry cleaning you need doing, this app will send someone to your house to pick up your clothes and then return them to you laundered, pressed and on hangers, ready to go straight back in your wardrobe. You need never iron shirts again. It’s available to use across London and various other UK cities.
2. Quiqup
Quiqup provides you with personal assistants to run errands for you. The app’s slogan is “Your city, hand delivered”, and can be used in London to request anything from a cashmere jumper or a bouquet of flowers, to a bottle of green juice from Whole Foods or a new X Box One.
3. Postmates
This app will deliver people living across more than 130 US cities food and drink from partner shops and restaurants, in no more than 60 minutes. Partner brands (of which there are in excess of 4,000) include Chipotle, Walgreens and Pinkberry.
4. Favor
Use this app to pay for a runner to get you anything from groceries to fast-food from your favourite outlet in roughly 20 North American cities. The average delivery time is 35 minutes, but like other apps you will have to pay a fee for the service.
5. Drizly
US app Drizly is a dream come true for lazy booze hounds who can request beer, spirits and wine with no mark up to be brought straight to them, within an hour. You can get ice and mixers too for last-minute cocktail parties.